Vending-machine.



1815. PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903.

F. G. CONNOR. VENDING MAGHINE.

APPLIOATION IILED SEPT. 10, 1902,

QBHEETS-SHBET 1;

H0 MODEL.

1mm 6100 222102". &4;-

Arrow/Em.

rm: naams PEYERS co. FHOTQUTRO'. WASHINGTON. u. c

No. 717,815. PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903.

F. G. CONNOR. VENDING MACHINE.-

APPLIOATION rum: win 10, 1902. v 110 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-81122112.

FLT

Bi 'ULTEI'. 5W

d :F S L 2 m m --z I:

INVENTOR a b WWW ii at I FCfConnor Tummy 5Y Tm: NDRRIS PETERS on, Pnormn'nu, wnsnmarcn, u. a

* UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK C. CONNOR, OF WACO, TEXAS.

VENDING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,815, dated January 6, 1903;

Application filed September 10,1902. Serial Nn. 122,830. (No modeh) which include in their construction a goodsholder, a pusher, a coin-controlled means for adjusting the pusher in position for ejectingthe goods or package from the holder, and an actuating member operable from the outside of the machine cooperatively joined with the pusher; and my said invention primarily seeks to provide a machine of this character especially designed for vending small packagesboxes containing shoe-laces, for exampleot' a simple and economical construction, in which the coin-set devices, the goodsholder, and the actuating means have a special correlative arrangement whereby they can be compactly disposed to provide for readily assembling a number of the mechanisms and nest them to produce a neat combined show-case, advertising, and display store-fixture.

My invention comprehen ds in its generic nature a novel construction of pusher automatically held to an operative position by the weight of a coin and sustained in such position by the coin during the action of ejecting a package from the goods-holder, and includes a peculiarly-arranged coin-discharger for removing the coin from the pusher when the latter has served its purpose.

- My invention also embodies a peculiar arrangement of actuating mechanism, including a pivoted lever arranged when depressed to throw the pusher device forward and to be automatically returned to its normal position by the automatic return of .the pusher device to its normal position; and in its more subordinate features iny invention consists in certain novel details of construction and peculiar combination of parts, all of which will hereinafter be explained, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a vending-machine embodying my invention and illustrates the same arranged as a combined vending goods-display and advertising storefixture. Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating one of the goods-holders, its coin-con trolled ejecting means, and the actuating devices therefor, the parts being in their inoperative or normal position. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the same parts in their operative position. Fig. 4 is a vertical crosssection of the same. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the pivotally-hung pushing-lever and the coin-tiltable pusher pivotally hung on the said lever. Fig. 6 is a detail view illustrating the manner in which the coin-discharge device coacts with the coin-receiver portion of the pusher.

In the practical construction of my invention the same includes a casing 1, of suitable ornamental shape, having the desired height and width to accommodate the goods-holder and the operating mechanism. As the coin controlled and actuating mechanisms are ofa character to occupy a narrow width of space in the practical application of my invention, the casing l is made of a width to take in a nest of goods-holders, which may all be arranged to sell packages of difierent sizes of the same kind of goods-shoe-laces, for instance-or be made of different sizes and arranged for selling difierent kinds of goods.

Each goods-holder has its own coin-controlled actuating mechanism, and I shall therefore describe in detail but one goodsholder and its coacting mechanism, the construction of which and its manner of operation will be best understood from Figs. 2, 3, and 4 of the drawings, by reference to which, it will be noticed,the goods-holder 2 is detachably mounted upon the inside of the front wall of the casing l and supported upon brackets 1 secured to the said wall, and to permit of the ready insertion of the goodsholder the front of the casing or the top thereof may be provided with a covered opening,

as the particular style of the store-fixture may I gravity. The bottom H of the holder has a central slot h, and at its rear edge it has a pair of separated cars 72. to form a guide for the front end of the pusher F to hold said member for bending laterally out to a proper operative position, and the upper face of the said bottom H is in a plane with the lower edge 8' of the discharge-throat S in the front wall of the casing and which inclines downwardly toward the collecting-troughB.

Mounted in suitable brackets 12' on the casing-bottom 1 is a transversely-disposed rockshaft N, upon one end of which is fixedly joined the actuating-lever 3, that extends forwardly and upwardly and terminates in a handle, as shown. Upon the shaft N is mounted a hook-like crank member 3 and has for its purpose to vengage the eccentricallycurved hook claw or crank m, fixedly joined to the horizontal rod on, which extends laterally from the lower end of the swing-lever M and in a plane parallel to the rock-shaft N, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The lever M is pivotally hung on the crossrod 4, mounted in the upper part of the casing 1, and is normally drawn rearward by a coil-spring 5, and its rearward swing is limited by reason of the engagement of the crank members m and 3 and the engagement of the actuating-lever 3 with an upper stop 1 as shown in Fig. 1.

The pusher or ejector F is fulcrumed, as at f, on the lever M to swing in the vertical plane and joins with or is an integral part of an arm f, that extends upwardly and rearwardly at an angle to the member F, and the said arm carries a coin-receiver f that under normal conditions rests under the discharge end of the coin-chute 6, that extends up at a sharp incline, so as to deliver the coin into the receiver f with sufficient force to tilt the member F in a plane with the edge of the lowermost package. (See Figs. 3 and 4.) By supporting the coin-engaging pusher or ejector member on the lever M, as described and shown, it is manifest the pusherF (which is sufficiently weighted to normally gravitate to its lower or inoperative position) will when a coin engages the receiver be tilted to its operative position and held to said position so long as the coin remains in the receiver J, the coin acting as a counterpoise and without affecting the position of the lever M, and hence a quick operation of the actuating-lever is not required, as the pusher F remains in an operative position until after the actuatinglever has been depressed and the coin ejected from the receiverf By reason of the peculiar opposing crankhooks 3 and m it is manifest that by depressing the lever 3 the lever M will be swung in the direction indicated by the arrow, Figs. 3 and 4c, and thereby force the pusher F forward to eject the lowermost package in the goods-holder, and as the pusher F completes its forward stroke the coin-receiver, whose forward edge f is open, will move onto a fixedly-held projection '7 on the rear edge of the goods-holder, whose impacting surface has a cam or curved shape, so that it will lift the coin out of the receiver f as it engages it and discharge it into a receiving-box 8 on the casing-bottom. As soon as the coin is ejected from the receiver f the member F will gravitate in a plane below the bottom of the goodsholder, and the pressure on the lever 3 being released said lever will be swung up again by the rocking action in a reverse direction of the shaft N produced by the retractile spring and connections between the said lever M and the lower end of lever 3.

By arranging the delivery and coin-controlled mechanisms in the manner described and shown it is manifest said parts can be compactly arranged in transverse area, and thereby admit of a number of goods-holders and coin-controlled delivery mechanisms being nested together to form a neat and ornamental store-fixture, as indicated in Fig. 1, from which, it will be observed, the body portion of the fixture is divided into a series of goods holders or casings, for each of which is provided a coin-slot for the insertion of the coin to set in position the pusher device for the particular compartment from which it is desired to obtain a package.

Vhen used as a store-fixture, a supplemental upper part is also provided for advertisemen ts, and above the advertising part a showcase for shoes or other articles of merchandise may also be provided. When a number of goods-holders are used, a single collectingtrough B, common to all of the holders, is provided and but a single actuating-lever 3 is used. The rock-shaft N has a number of crank members 3, equal to the number of swinging levers M, of which there is one for each goods-holder, and each of which carries a pusher F. It being understood that in the operation of the lever 3 all of the levers M and their pushers are acted on, but only the particular pusher member F tilted upward by the insertion of a coin is in a position to act on the lowermost package in its coincident goods-holder compartment. Thus the pusher member F is absolutely set to an operative position by the counterpoise or coin dropped into its receiver, and it maintains such position until after it has about completed its function as an ejector, when another ejecting device frees the coin from the pusher and permits the said pusher to return to its normal or inoperative position.

Slight changes and modifications may readily be made in the construction shown and described without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a coin-controlled vending-machine of the character described, an actuatingdever, a supplemental lever pivotally mounted inside of the machine-casing, the two levers having interlocking ends, a pusher member mounted on the supplemental lever, and adapted to normally return to an inoperative position, said pusher having a coin-receiver adapted to project in position to receive a coin from the coin-chute, said receiver and the fulcrum of the pusher being correlatively arranged whereby the ejector end of the said pusher will be elevated by the reception of a predetermined coin in the pusher to a plane in line with the lowermost package in the goods-holder, all being arranged substantially as shown and described.

2. In a coin-operated vending-machine as described, the combination with a series of goods-holders, each having a discharge-orifice at the bottom, a pendent pivoted lever for each goods-holder mounted at the rear of said holder, and having a hooked crank m at the lower end, a pusher pivotally mounted on each pendent lever with its forward end normally swung in a plane below the bottom of the adjacent goods-holder, said pusher having a coin-receiver adapted to act as a counterpoise to lift the front end of the pusher in the plane of the bottom package in the goodsholder when a coin is dropped into the receiver, a coin-chute for each pusher, and a coin-ejector for removing the coin from the pusher-receiver at predetermined times, a single rock-shaft common to all the pendent levers, said shaft having a series of hooked cranks 3, one for each hooked crank m on the pendent levers, means for moving the said pendent levers back, and a single actuating-lever connected with the rock-shaft having cranks 3, all being arranged substanently-sup ported lever M, having a crank memberm to coact with the crank on the rock'- shaft, a pusher member F, pivotally mounted on the lower end of the lever Maud rockable in a vertical plane relatively to said-lever, said pusher having its front end weighted whereby to normally drop to an inoperative plane, said pusher having a rearwardly-eze tending member f terminating in a coin-receiver a coin-chute for leading the coin into the said receiver f and a coin-ejector mounted on the goods-holder for pushing the coin out of the said receiver f at predetermined intervals, all being arranged substantially as shown and described.

FRANK C. CONNOR.

\Vitnesses:

'I. R. CONNOR, J. E. ORCHARD. 

